


Wait for me in the future

by ReyloSquad5



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Howl's Moving Castle Fusion, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Baby Ben Solo, Baby Ben Solo needs a hug, Ben Solo Loves Rey, Ben is the best husband efortlessly, Canon Compliant, Devoted Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren, Dyad abilities, Endearments, F/M, Fix-It of Sorts, Fluff and Angst, Force Dyad (Star Wars), Married Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren, Mentions of past psychological abuse, Might or might not be inspired by Howl's Moving Castle, POST HEA, POST TROS HEA, Parents Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren, Post-Canon Fix-It, Pregnancy, Redeemed Ben Solo, Rey is emotional, The World Between Worlds (Star Wars), Time Travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-19
Updated: 2020-12-19
Packaged: 2021-03-11 01:26:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,501
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28176870
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ReyloSquad5/pseuds/ReyloSquad5
Summary: Rey has her small family within her reach, yet, something troubles her.
Relationships: Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Comments: 12
Kudos: 49





	Wait for me in the future

**Author's Note:**

  * For [HelenFlower92](https://archiveofourown.org/users/HelenFlower92/gifts).



> Disclaimer: Star Wars is the property and creation of Lucas Film and Disney. I own none of the characters and places mentioned in this story.

* * *

**Special thanks to my lovely betas[EliseCY](https://archiveofourown.org/users/EliseCY/pseuds/EliseCY) and [M1ssJess](https://archiveofourown.org/users/M1ssJess/works/) who were very nice and patient with me. **

**Dedicated to[HelenFlower92](https://archiveofourown.org/users/HelenFlower92/pseuds/HelenFlower92) who encouraged me to write in the first place. Forever grateful you showed me that I can do it.**

* * *

A child’s whimper woke her up in an instant. It was still dark outside when Rey felt her heart pounding strongly against her ribs. Her eyes, still not used to the darkness in the room, were searching for the unhappy crier. Her ears waited patiently for the source of sound to be revealed, while her first instinct was to get to her almost two-year-old son’s crib. Akim slept peacefully, no sign of distress on his features, but her maternal instinct took over her better judgement and she knew she had to have him beside her. Rey picked his small figure up in her arms and, sensing her warmth, he curled himself into his mother’s chest, melting her heart in the process.

Rey took careful steps towards the large bed where long ebony waves spilled on the pillow just next to hers. Ben, her dyad, her love, was sound asleep, calmness across his features. She sighed. How much she loved having her own little family right within her reach! On the bed, Rey unwrapped her baby’s arms from around her neck and placed him between her and her husband with a kiss on his forehead. She couldn’t help but look at them. She let her feelings of love and eternal protection come at them, bathing the two sleepers in them through the Force. A small tear burned at the corner of her eye as she became overwhelmed with happiness. When she finally laid down with a hand on her belly, she felt Ben’s warm fingers on her own.

“What’s the matter, sweetheart?” he whispered in a deep, sleepy voice. “Is this little one keeping you awake?” Worry drips from his words. Five months had passed since they found out they’d be parents to a second child; they’d desired one ever since they saw their old, shared dream of having a family come true through Akim.

“No, my love, I’m fine, really”, she whispered back at him. “I just had a dream. A little boy was crying. It was like he was calling me to him.” Rey continued, “I guess I was getting emotional and brought Akim here to be with us.”

“Alright, sweetheart, try to get some sleep. You need it. Tell me if you need anything,” Ben said while caressing her still small baby bump. Assuredly, he took her hand in his and brought her knuckles to his lips, his Force signature mirroring her previous show of affection.

The three of them stayed in an embrace for what felt like forever. Rey’s mind kept drifting in and out of sleep. Whenever she started diving into unconsciousness, she heard the same boy crying. When the sky was finally light enough, she decided to rise, giving up on sleep. She found herself contemplating Ben. So gentle, so careful. He somehow shifted in his sleep, causing his hair to stick to his face and neck. She bent to remove them and caress his cheek. A far memory from the throne room when she had woken up first replayed in her mind. How different everything had been and what a long way they came from those events… Woken from her reverie, she left the two most important men in her life to sleep and placed a gentle kiss on each forehead. Then she decided to start her day.

In the fresher, Rey brushed her hair. It now reached her waist. She had let it grow since they got married. He had always complimented her whenever she would let it down; he even offered to braid it at any time he got the occasion, giving her some of the most gorgeous hairdos she ever had--ones he had learned back in his childhood from Leia. How she missed her…She had met her force ghost sometimes, but that was so long ago. After she changed into a flowery dress for the day, one that hid her belly and let her move freely, she decided she had to meditate over her dream. What was that cry that kept her awake half of the night? It wasn’t her baby. No. It felt like it was a cry in the Force. Maybe it needed to show her something important, maybe a vision about her babies. What was worse, she felt like she knew him. The worry took over her features, furrowing her eyebrows. Being the emotional mess that her pregnancy made her into, she concluded she couldn’t bear not knowing what the Force had to show her. 

She walked restlessly through the kitchen, grateful for the warm cup of tea that kept her hands from the cold of early morning. She exited into the garden, the same one Ben’s grandmother had put so much thought into. Rey took in the beautiful flowers and all the green that surrounded her. She indulged in the moment and in some way she managed to calm her steady heartbeat and rested on one of the benches with a sigh.

“Be with me!” she prayed into the Force, breathing in and out. She felt her surroundings. The cold dissipating into the breaking dawn glow. Two heartbeats played her favorite symphony upstairs in her quarters. “They’re still asleep,” Rey thought, a smile escaping her lips. Balance.

She opened her eyes, finding herself in the endless space she recognized as The World Between Worlds. Dark, yet radiant enough so that one wouldn’t lose all sense of hope once there. Not that it was meant to be inhabited, no one should be able to visit it. However, it seemed to have a preference for _certain_ Force users. Ever since she had fought against all the odds to bring Ben back, she gained the ability to roam in it. If she had to describe it, she would have explained it as a labyrinth of mirrors that sometimes serve as doors, but it could be in reverse as well. It was certain that unguided by someone at the other end, one would walk in circles forever. It wasn’t her case, for her, she would always have the string of her bond to hold onto to find her way back.

Then she heard it again, the boyish cry she came to find. She kept walking towards it until she saw a door, a strong light blinding her vision as she opened it. Blinking away the pain in the back of her eyes, she found herself back in the gardens on Naboo. The familiar view was spoiled by a sole element, a little boy sniffing away his sorrow on the same bench she had left behind. Hiding behind a pillar of the house, she observed his small back, bent over and shaking. When he finally straightened, she noticed a familiar mop of dark hair she would have recognized anywhere. Ben. Her beloved Ben. So young and small. She remembered the stories Leia had told her about him, bemused at the fact that his mother couldn’t bring herself to cut his hair back in his childhood.

Before she had the chance to even think how to approach him, he turned his head.

“Who are you?” he asked, a hint of annoyance on his features. He didn’t look older than five, she appreciated, yet he was already so in tune with the Force. He had sensed her even though she just arrived.

“Don’t be afraid, I came to help you,” she heard herself saying calmly.

“Did Mom and Dad send you to check on me?” Little Ben raised a brow. Her eyes studied his swollen face and eyes, pink from crying for stars knew how long.

“I think you were the one who called me here through the Force. I came to see you of my own will,” she responded, trying to sound convincing to him as well as to herself.

“Are you one of the voices in my head then?” he asked, absently holding his head between his hands. “I seem to talk to them a lot in my head. When I tell Mom that my head hurts after a nightmare she seems to panic. I- I don’t know what to do anymore.” He was looking back at Rey with dark, soulful eyes. “I don’t want to scare her. I tried to get rid of them, telling them to go away, pretend they are not talking to me, but-“ he paused, and pointing to his head, he added in a timid voice, “they don’t listen to me.”

Rey fought back tears and tried her best to swallow the lump in her throat. No, she could cry later, now she had to be there for him.

“I know this is hard,” she directed peace into the Force that surrounded him, “but don’t listen to them. Listen to your parents. I’m sure they only want what’s best for you. Maybe when you’ll get older you’ll start training as a Jedi even…”

“A Jedi? Naah, I want to be a pilot, like my Dad, the best in the galaxy! I don’t want to be like Uncle Luke! Do you know him?” She was taken aback by his response full of determination. “I sort of know him, I suppose,” she pondered her response. “What do you know about the Force?” she continued. 

“It helps you make things float.” She smiled, recalling that her first response to that question had been something similar to his. “I do that _aaaall_ the time with my toys. It freaks Dad out, I even got to make him and Uncle Chewie float once too”, a chuckle escaped his lips. After a moment of silence and with a shadow lingering on his eyes, he added, “Mom and Dad, don’t always have time for me and I feel like I’m alone all the time.” His sadness took its hold upon him once again. Afraid he would start crying again, she put a trembling hand on his back, moving it up and down.

“There, there,” she began, unsure about the contact. “No matter what, remember, you’re not alone.” Oh no, she knew what the pout on his plush lips meant. Tears began to fall on his round cheeks.

“I don’t want to scare them! They always fight when I use the Force to make something fly or when I tell them about the voices. I just don’t know what is wrong with me...” he managed to say between hiccups. “I just want to play, but whenever the others see what I can do with my mind, they don’t want to play with me anymore. Everyone leaves me,” his sorrow so tangible one could cut it with a lightsaber. She kept blinking back the wetness that threatened to dampen her eyelashes. Force. This was so much harder than she had expected. He was only five, for Force’s sake. He shouldn’t have felt like this so early in his life. Knowing the rest of his story, her heart shattered for the millionth time. _I have to do something for him_ , she thought as her protectiveness of him washed over her.

“It’s not your fault,” she hoped she could hide the defeat in her voice. “It’s something that happens to the Force users. Your parents…. they’re not afraid of you, they worry for you. They love you, even if they are arguing.” She tried her best to calm his very dear soul. Little Ben gasped, then turned his gaze to her.

“Do you think it’s true?” he asked. 

She smiled. “I don’t just think it, I’m sure of it. Have courage, little one!” she responded, ruffling his ebony waves. Without so much as a warning, he wrapped his little arms around her waist. “Thank you, lovely lady,” he said, raising his face on the side of her rib. “Wait, I think I sense something,” he added, knitting his brows. “Are you having a baby?” he asked with his big eyes wide open. She just nodded, the lump in her throat making her incapable of more. “Oh boy, I love babies! I’ve been asking Mom for a little brother or sister for a while, but I don’t know if I’ll ever have one…Anyway, can I meet your kid someday?” he questioned. She fought back tears for she lost count of how many times now since they met. Then she smiled. “I have an elder one back home. A boy. He is smaller than you, but you remind me so much of him”. Of course, how could he not?

The boy’s eyes were glittering while his features were brightened with an out of the world light. “Can I meet him too? Maybe he’ll want to be my friend.”

“I promise, next time we’ll see each other, you’ll meet him. Until then, promise me you’ll be good.” Rey was now cupping his face. He leaned into her touch almost as if he recognized her. “Thank you for staying with me. I hope when I’m older I’ll meet someone just like you,” Little Ben told her. She couldn’t deny her heart skipping a beat at her husband-from-the-past’s words. _The flattery is undeniably Han’s influence_ , she thought, smiling to herself.

“ **Wait for me in the future, I’ll know how to help you then !** ” As soon as she finished the phrase, she was back in the World Between Worlds’ hollowness. She felt her heart clenching while she continued to walk, following the radiant string of the bond. Her husband’s presence at the other end was always the light point that ensured she wouldn’t get lost. Ben’s Force signature became more and more luminous until she was back in the garden, only this time, in her own timeline. She stumbled a little as she entered the house, her vision fogged by the tears she finally allowed to fall. When she set foot in the kitchen, she found a sleepy, confused Ben, gazing back at her. The moment he acknowledged her tears, he cupped her face in his hands.

“It’s over now, sweetheart. Everything is alright,” he said, gently whispering in her ear. Her hands were gripping the shirt on his back as she held him ever so tightly. The hopelessness of her heartbreak for him returned, causing her to weep endlessly for him, soaking the crook of his neck with her tears.

“Shh, I’m here. I’m here. Rey. You’ll make me cry too,” he reassured his wife, the other part of his soul, holding her as she cried and caressing her hair that fell along her back, hoping to calm her.

“I’m so sorry, Ben,” she said with shortness of breath. “What he did to you – that’s unforgivable! You were so young! I’m sorry for ever calling you a monster. I misjudged you. I-“

Ben scooped the mother of his children in his arms, taking her by surprise, and sat on a chair as he held her like she was his ultimate anchor. She didn’t get to finish her apology, when he spoke, locking his gaze to hers.

“I know. I was there with you, love. I saw you in my dream as soon as you met the young me in the past. I saw myself as a little boy again,” he paused, looking away as one tear was threatening to fall off his eyes too, then he looked at her again. “You kept your promise, I did get to meet your kids,” his lips curled bemused. He blessed her with his large grin, which she got to see for the first time all those years ago on Exegol. “I did find you in the end, and you helped me as you promised. You still do. Thank you so much, sweetheart.” A spectrum of emotions danced across his features as he spoke.“I just don’t know where this memory went, though,” he said pensively, breaking the silence. “I remember waiting for you to reappear just like you did the first time. Now I understand why you never did. But I recall taking your memory with me when I was sent to Luke.” Ben sighed. “I suppose Snoke took you away from my mind when I joined him.” She saw his fingers clench into a fist. “How dare he?” A shadow of an old rage overcame his senses. Reminding himself that his wife was right there in his arms, he finally relaxed. “I believe he feared the power of the hope you gave me back in the days. Obviously he didn’t know who you were. I didn’t either.” Ben was smiling endearingly. “Even after he took my memory away, I guess I never stopped watching for you, until we finally reached each other,” he added, pressing his lips on the crown of her head. Rey was caressing the side of the face that suffered a cut and was later decorated by an angry scar and planted a kiss on the smooth skin below his right eye.

“I caused you pain,” she said, dropping her gaze guiltily from his.”That might have hurt. I hated so much that I did find your face attractive. Maybe I did it to keep seeing you as a monster.” Her apologetic train of thought was interrupted by the touch of his fingers on her chin. He mirrored her gesture, kissing her cheek, then capturing her lips with his. Ben was sending his understanding into their bond, the feeling appeasing her. Resting in the cradle of his body, they felt a faint push from inside her belly.

“Oh, we might have woken her up, umm, may I?” He asked, scratching the back of his neck and setting his shoulder-length mane into disarray.

“Of course, Ben, have I ever pushed you away from your kids?” she asked, giving him a smirk. “And also, what do you mean by _her_?” By the time she asked, he had already lifted them and was working to reposition her so that he could press his ear on her baby bump. 

“Yes. I keep feeling that this one will be a girl,” he responded. “Aren’t you, my little one?” Ben started talking to the baby, who Rey felt starting to dance in her abdomen at the sound of her father’s voice. “Dad loves you,” he added in a whisper, like a secret between him and his baby. He hoped he wasn’t heard by Rey, but she already knew it. The man wore his heart on his sleeve. 

“If you’re sure the baby is a girl, maybe we should start thinking about names,” she said, her hands playing with his hair. Her lips curled in the form of a smile she couldn’t hold back anymore. She was always mesmerized by how much this man could love his kids. She was also learning parenting from him. He was such a natural. Who would have bet the former Supreme Leader would transform into the affectionate husband and father he proved himself to be? The gratitude of having the other part of her soul there was pulsing in their bond, and Ben allowed it to wrap him up like a blanket. He lifted back, restoring their former embrace, and she snuggled into his broad chest one more time.

“Let’s check on Akim. He’ll be up any time now,” Rey finally told Ben, breaking the peaceful silence between them. “And Ben, thank you.” He raised an eyebrow, surprise everywhere on his soft features. “You know, for being there for us, with us, with me.” Rey added, keeping her eyes locked on his.

“There’s nowhere I’d rather be. You are my family. One that years ago I didn’t even hope to have. It’s I who should thank you, really. You made all this possible.” He looked at her with the same glassy eyes she came to know since he was fully redeemed, his gaze impossibly delicate. She lifted her face to kiss his eyelids, an expression of love she started doing since she brought him back from the World Between Worlds, when he had been too tired to keep his eyes open. She cradled his head in her lap, sinking at the perfect moment as she watched his chest rising and falling slowly. Back then, she kept having unpleasant flashbacks of him disappearing, so the first days she had him back, she used to stick with him every moment of every day. When she had feared it might become overwhelming for him and decided to try to leave him be, he had stopped her, showing that she was always more than welcome to hold him.

A soft brush of fingers on her hand interrupted her trance. “Let’s go, sweetheart, he’s waiting for us,” he said gently before granting her with another one of his breathtaking kisses. As they rose from the place they’d been sitting in and went up into their shared quarters, they both knew that they would never be alone again.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! Comments are very welcome!


End file.
